Documenting Your Collection - Part 2

Last week I talked about the various reference sources that I used to document my stamps. They all have their ups and downs, their strengths and weaknesses. Today’s topic is about the actual documentation of your stamps and how I do it. Of course I’d like to state again that this is my method, you might want to use it or not, but it’s the easiest for me to do so. Let’s get to it then.

The first question arises of what method you’d like to use to document the stamps, whether on the Computer or on paper. My preference is on paper however, there are merits to doing it on the computer. It might be easier to place your reference books on the computer desk with your stamps and type them up as you find them plus the entertainment value as you can watch shows or movies while doing your stamps makes the appeal better. If you use a laptop then you can leisurely do so anywhere in the house and are not stuck in one place. However, I still prefer the good ole paper and pen method. Not only does it ensure protection from sudden crashes and unsaved work but also give you a sense of accomplishment as fill page upon page of your stamps.

I use a register that I bought on one of my many trips to Pakistan for my documentation. The brand of the register is “Vogue Special Register”. You can certainly find other brands in dollar stores here, made in China, but I still prefer the feel and look of registers from Pakistan. The amount of pages in them, which is not available here, is through the roof. I myself have an 800 page one which is 2/3’s full and has Africa, Middle East, Central Asia and now Asia stamps documented in it. By the time I reach the end of the register, I could very well have finished Asia and Oceania/Australia and be starting on Europe. It’s excellent in my opinion for this purpose. 

The tool most commonly used on the computer is Excel. It is a spreadsheet program with a finite number of columns and rows which can be modified to fit all sorts of information. In short it’s the electronic method of the way I do it and it certainly is a fine way to do so. I plan to use it after my register is completed and I am awaiting the next one to arrive. Not only is having different versions a good idea, for insurance purposes or for the purposes in regards to a will, but it also helps you in searching for one specific type of stamp from your thousands of different stamp. This however, does not mean I am advocating solely for the use of Excel, but I am giving options of how a person could use these tools combined with each other to perform this task.

Getting into the documentation itself is not that hard once you get into it. On one of my pages of the register I draw five lines which will eventually contain a specific piece of information about that stamp. In order they are “Scott #”, “Series”, “Number” and finally “Value”. You may notice (from the picture) that there is one column which is not titled. This isn’t an oversight but rather its purpose is to write the second Scott number that is given with the stamp. This number will be explained lower down in this article.

After titling the columns I get into the actual documenting of the stamp itself. The process for that depends on various factors, the country evolved, the stamp and its variations, if the year is written on the stamp or not and finally how easy it is to find that stamp. For example, People’s Republic of China’s stamps did not have dates added until fairly recently (80’s I remember but I might be wrong), which makes finding the stamps from 1949 to 1979 fairly hard to do due to the amount of stamps that it released. This takes patience and as the saying going patience is a virtue. Some countries, like the US for example, have dates on the majority of their stamps which makes it a breeze to search and find them.

There are a variety of things which I found quite useful in the search of stamps in catalogues if the date is not present. The first is to try and date the stamp yourself. This, for me, is a relatively easy thing to do since it requires that you look at the stamp and then suggest an age for that stamp. History also plays a huge role too in deciding where a stamp belongs.  Does it look old? Does it have the coloring of the 1960’s and 1970’s? Does it look modern? Viewing the stamp makes it much easier to tell the approximate age of the same.  Of course guessing is not the only way you can find what era they came from, as there are various indicators which point the way.

The first indicator is the post mark. If it has seen postal usage then most likely it would have the date on the cancellation. This is your easiest indicator to tell about what year it came from. However, if it says for example “1985”, this does not necessarily mean that the stamp was issued in 1985. You should look one or two years back or even three to find the stamp. If there is no cancellation on the stamp, then it’s a combination of guessing and detective work t find the right version of the stamp. Just remember to look carefully and not to rush. It’s more vital you get it right the first time than have to come around and change it over and over again.

Back on to the documentation itself. Once you have found the stamp, as an example, I used the Mount Fuji stamp record since I’m currently documenting Japan and I have various versions of this stamp, you can see that it was issued from 1930 to 1937. Under the Mount Fuji stamp picture you can see it has been given a marking of A49. This is the first value that is written under the column “Scott #” in the register. The second value “Series” is either the title of the stamp, in this case “Mount Fuji” or in other cases at the bottom of the columns of values in a stamp. So far we have filled out 2 of our 5 columns with valuable information which will help you find the stamp as you might have duplicates.

Then underneath you can see 6 columns of information pertaining to that stamp. You can see that the Scott # in the second column is there indicating that it is only for that stamp not for other stamps.  The first value is the second Scott # which is the blank space in my register. I could have titled it “Scott #” again, but I just left it blank because it more helpful for me. You might title it as “Cat. #” or anything that fits your fancy at that point.

 The third column contains the face value of the stamp that is what the stamp was bought for. In this case it ranges from “4s” all the way to “20s”. These are vital to know what value your stamp has. The fourth stamp is the color of the stamp. The fifth and sixth columns contain information about the value of the stamp itself, not the face value, but the market value. The 5^th column is the price for mint or never used stamps while the 6^th is for used stamps unless they are otherwise stated. In most cases unless the stamp is a rare one the values do not go above a $1.00. This information is entered in the “Value” field of the register.

The last column “Number” is the amount of that particular stamp that you have. It can be 0 (if you’re making a want list) or it can be any amount of the same version of the stamp you have. As an example, I’ve taken a picture of the stamp I’m currently searching. Having found it I can see it entitled “Rice Harvest” and is number “A83”. Once I’ve written it down, I search for more information I can see the other Scott # is 258 and that the value and color “1s” and “crimson” match that stamp that I have. Then I see the used value of only $0.20. Having this information I’ve then write it down and then move on to the next. The record I’ve written down is shown in the picture.

This is hard work, but very rewarding. Organizing your stamps and having good catalogue only makes your job much easier and more rewarding. In another post I’ll finish up talking about all the extra stuff I’ve missed about finding the stamp, such as “Perfs” as well as the tools that one should use when handling and writing about stamps. See you next time!

(Sorry about the pictures.)

Organizing your Stamp Collection - Part 1

The idea for this topic came to my mind recently and while thinking about it, I thought I might as well discuss the organizing of stamps as a basis before documenting begins. It is highly important to organize your collection so that you certainly enjoy and is easier for documenting when the time comes. Having stamps just in a stockbook at random will be extremely hard if you have more than 3 stockbooks worth of stamps. A well organized stamp collection not only makes your life much easier but looks better as well. Of course I’m going to discuss collections within stockbooks not albums as that is what I have. 

My method of organization, I feel, is much easier for the new beginners than for veterans although they can certainly still use this method. Feel free to tell me about how you organize your own collection!

For the first aspect I divide stamps by Continents. For those not in the know, there are 7 continents, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia, Europe and yes Antarctica as well. This makes sorting countries easier if you know the countries well enough or have a general idea of where they might be located. One of the biggest help, if your old school, is an atlas or if you prefer new technology Google “world map” and you should get a version of a map which would help you locate those mysterious countries that you are not familiar with.

Once you have sorted them into this larger structure, it is time to subdivide them into regions. This is a hard part, especially if you’re not familiar with the divisions within each continent. As an example, all of Asia is too large as a whole collection titled “ASIA” and finding a specific country will not be easy in this sort of collection. To make it easier for documentation and finding, subdivisions are necessary.  The question certainly arises on how this subdivision should take place. Below is my recommendation of how I do it and it is of course open to changes if they do not suit your needs or you find them weird.

Asia is a subdivided it into 5 divisions:

East Asia – Includes China, Japan, South Korea and North Korea.                                                      

Southeast Asia – Includes Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Timor Leste and the Philippines.

The Subcontinent – Includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan.

Middle East – Includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Israel, Palestine Territories, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

Central Asia – Includes Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan.

By subdividing like I’ve shown it is easier to add into the collection when you get a kiloware lot as well as making it easier to document as you can go region by region which puts less pressure on you and makes it seem less of a monumental task. These subdivisions also help you in figuring out where historical regions go; especially ones which do not exist anymore like the Indian states or French Indochina, into their proper places.

Using this organizational structure it is easier not only for documentation but will save you space and time when you get new stamps or when you want to show off your collection. It is a handy way to do it but I have to remind everyone that this is just my version of it, yours might be totally different or the same! I’ll continue this same topic this week, focusing on another area which is confusing, Africa! I’ll see you real soon!

Documenting Stamps - Part 1

Stamp collectors know the fun or sorting through new acquisitions to see what treasures they hold for their collection. However, the downside to this is the documentation of those same stamps which might take longer than the sorting itself! 

This topic is a 3 part series on how I document my stamps.  If there is a rule on how to document stamps, I have not seen anything of the sort. This method is my method, it may or may not work for you but I would recommend it to anyone who is interested. It requires a few basics to start the documentation so let’s get to it.

The first thing, besides stamps that is, is a good reference source. This comes in many different flavors so which ever works for you is the best. I personally use Scott’s Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, the 2008 edition, as well as Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue Part 10 Russia, Part 16 Central Asia and Part 19 Middle East. There are also two other books that I use as reference guides, Unitrade’s Stamp Collector’s Handbook and Linn’s World Stamp Almanac Millennium Edition. These form the basis for my documentation needs.

There needs to be said a few words about the Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogues however. I mainly collect Central Asia and the Middle East, while also collecting worldwide stamps, so these catalogues are vital to documentation if you collect this area. Part 19, Middle East, is superior to Scott’s for a couple of reasons. Firstly it lists many of the stamps from countries not listed by Scott or not accurately documented enough. This includes stamps from Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaima, Sharjah and its dependences, Aden and its two dependences, The Kathiri State of Seiyun and the Qu’aiti State in Hadhramaut, Ajman and Manama, Fujeira, South Arabia, the Trucial States, Umm Al Qiwain and finally Yemen of all flavors.

This not only allowed me to accurately find which weren’t actually stamps (also called Cinderella’s) and which were and furthered allowed me to fine tune my collection. If you collect the Middle East, I highly recommend that you buy this catalogue as a supplement or as a standalone to your documentation. I’ll list the ISBN numbers at the end of this post so that you can go to Amazon or your favorite bookseller and find it.

However, as much as I appreciate these catalogues, I high don’t recommend that you buy Part 16 Central Asia unless you collect the Middle East. It has a huge error which has duped me into buying it. The title “Central Asia” is incorrect. Instead of documenting what is accepted as Central Asia, it documents Iran, Turkey and Afghanistan which are not part of Central Asia at all. This shocked me as I was expecting to get all 5 Central Asian states (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) but instead got the three countries. The only silver lining is that if you collect Afghanistan then it lists many of the stamps which are not found in Scott’s once again. It’s a high useful tool, but if you’re looking for Central Asia exclusively do not get it.  The binding on the book is weak as well, and within a few buys of me buying it, the section starting with the table of contents till page 4 have separated from the binding and I don’t open it very far in the fear that more pages will become unstuck. Use with caution would be my advice.

If you are looking for Central Asia then you’ll have to get Part 10 Russia. Not only does it list Russia but it also lists former territories of the USSR as well. This is where you’ll find Central Asia. It also, like before, lists the stamps that Scott doesn’t list as well. It also lists Mongolia which is a bonus as well. If you collect this area, I highly recommend this book. Unlike Part 16, the binding seems to be better so there is no fear of it falling apart.

Finally we get to the Scott Catalogues. My edition is 2008 which is fairly old by now. I don’t expect to see a great change with the numbers of the newest editions and the only thing I would say might change is the values. They might rise and fall but as I’ve not done a comparison as of yet I don’t know what changes I can expect. Scott Catalogues are expensive so I was lucky that I acquired the complete collection of EBay in CD form. These I would say are a must have to document accurately. The listing are fairly well done and I do not have a hard time searching for many stamps however, a few odd ones still stump me.  

Lastly you do not have to buy the catalogues yourself, you might only need one volume if you collect a single country or do not have enough to buy the whole set in one go. There is another source where you can acquire it for free, that is your local library! They might have either the older ones or the newest ones in their system so you might get it for a couple of weeks to try it out. That’s what I did for some time. They also might sell the older sets so ask around your library when the newer editions are released.

The last two books the Unitrade’s Stamp Collector’s Handbook and the Linn’s World Stamp Almanac are reference guide that I use. They might or might not be helpful to you. Not only does it generally have  a list of identifiers which are vital is you get  a stamp entitled “SPIDAM FRAMCAOS”  and want to know what in the world it is (it’s actually French Sudan). I would not classify this as vital, since there are many forums for stamps where helpful people will identify stamps for you, but if you get tired of scanning and posting pictures, it is an easier way to go. A last note about the Linn’s World Stamp Almanac, my edition is the Millennium Edition meaning 2000, there might be a new version or there might be not. I haven’t checked. I feel that while I don’t really need the newest edition for the stamp identifiers or much of the information, such as postal history, if you feel there is some vital information that is out of date, then by all means buy a new edition. I only recommend this because of its vital identifiers which should not, in my opinion, be updated or different from newer editions, but I may be incorrect so look and see for yourself!

That’s all for this edition of Documenting your stamps. Next week the discussion will be about how to actually document stamps and what method should you use. See you next week!

Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogues

Part 10: Russia ISBN #: 978085259624

Part 16: Central Asia (Turkey, Iran, And Afghanistan) ISBN#: 9780852596234

Part 19: Middle East ISBN#: 9780852587194

Unitrade Stamp Collector’s Handbook ISBN#: 9781895909609

Linn’s World Stamp Almanac ISB N#: 09404043854

I am not dead yet!

Hello All! Sorry for the hiatus, but life and university got in the way. Now that it is done, expect updates on the stamp front for the entire summer! Stay tuned, the first article will be publish early this week!

Kiloware: Always Euro-Centric?

Kiloware, its something that drives all of us stamp collectors mad. But what is it about always being Euro-centric that is giving me issues? The fact is, that in recent kiloware items I have bought, the results have weighed heavily on the Europe side. From England to Hungary, from Spain to Romania to Ireland and Poland, these stamps have been plagued my batches ever since I've bought them.

I don't have any problems if the items are different or have light duplications. What I do have an issue is those small Romanian stamps that are there by dozens, a huge block (!) of polish stamps stuck together in what can be called a dealers packet and obviously the machin heads that always appear in large quantities. Some, note that some, of these stamps are unique and I'm OK with that. Really, I am. But when they appear in the 20's or 30's then I realize that this isn't quite unique anymore.

Where do all this European stamps come from? With the research that I've done, comes to the conclusion that there is a huge glut of Eastern bloc stamps since the fall of the Soviet bloc in 1991. Since then, these CTO's have flooded the market making real, recent issues from these countries harder to come by. Poland and Romania are certainly plagued by this issue. What could be the case for these countries is the fact that dealers and buyers bought of large quantities to make a fast buck, unloaded as much of it as they can, but are stuck with extreme amounts of them left. So they sell them in bulk to quickly reduce inventory, making dealers use them to flesh out kiloware packets. But again, these are my theories. The end result is that Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia and sometimes Hungary are the ones that show up more. Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and other's I'm certainly forgetting show up less from this bloc.

But its not just the Eastern Bloc that has this issue. England, Spain and Ireland can be accused of this as well. Franco stamps from Spain, especially the orange head one, are the bane of Spanish stamp collectors. While the other colours are frequently found as well, it seems the orange one is the most replicating one found. A bag of kiloware is certainly to have a minimum of 10 Franco heads with 5 of them being the orange one.

England and it Machin heads are another case. They have, on one hand been released with a large amount of values and I have to say its quite exciting to find values you don't have, but this dies down the instant you pull your 20th Machin head of the same value, in my case I have found the 16p (forget the colour) no more than 15 times in one batch that I pulled. Ireland also has the same case as with England. Its series however shows up less frequently and as a result, I get more Irish stamps that I never had before.

On the other hand, other areas appear less and less as a result of large amounts of Europe. I have so far found a grand total of 1 stamp from Uzbekistan from a Kiloware bundle for Central Asia that wasn't including Mongolia. China, Taiwan and Japan appear somewhat regularly as does Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, India and Pakistan but these are not in the majority and combined hardly number more than 30. Other places like Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Burma, East Timor, Kuwait, Libya, Uganda and others appear infrequent or not at all. Its really a sad day at kilowaring when you can only find Europe and North America.

Of course, I'm not trying to say "STOP BUYING KILOWARE", nope that isn't me, but I believe its time to walk up to your stamp dealer or wholesaler and ask them directly "Give me Kiloware, with more Asia, Africa, Oceania, Middle East, Central Asia then Europe or North America". Only though our talks with these dealers can we find a balance to this mixture.

No pictures for today, I'm not at home so obviously no scans. Tomorrow I'll continue the area overview with Asia.

Central Asia: The Homelands

Regions of Stamp Collecting: Part 2 Central Asia

This area has to be one of my favorite areas ever. As a history student, I love Central Asian history and I cannot get enough of it. The fact that I imagine nomadic hordes sweeping down and waging a war again civilized empires to be exciting. But enough of that, this blog is for stamps.

Central Asia, as outlined about consists of Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. Historical countries include just Tannu Touva. Since most of these countries were given independence in 1991, they have had a few stamps out. Mostly since they are new, other collectors tend to shy away from this area. None the less, collecting this area comes with its own risks. For One, there are not a lot of brick and mortar stores selling this area because of either the rarity involved or because of a more darker reason.

Since independence, these areas have been the target of forgeries. There are countless forgeries of various Central Asian stamps featuring a wide area of topics from Disney cartoons to Dinosaurs to famous people. For this reason, it has badly impacted this area and has made people shy away. Also in this mix is a number of CTO's produced by Mongolia on topics which it has no connection to it.

In any case, if you know what you're getting and can be smart about it, there is no reason why this area is going to be difficult. My wish is to have more and more of this area show up in kiloware deals and the like which is current not happening.

Since I don't have my excel sheet I can't give counts for this reason, but I know for sure the largest count for this region is Mongolia and Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan being the lowest. This is a great region and I invite anybody who can to collect it.

Next time, we're heading for the mysterious continent that is Africa!

Kyrgyzstan:

Turkmenistan:



Tajikistan:

Uzbekistan:

Kazakhstan:

Middle East: The Main Center

Regions of Stamp Collecting: Part 1 The Middle East

This is the start of a new topic describing the regions which I have divided my stamp collection and what they have in store for the Stamp Collector. We'll start off with one of my favourite areas, the Middle East. My collection features both new, existing and non-existing countries. Lets start off with the region description and the countries involved.


First off as you can see from the picture, this includes Turkey, because lets face it, Turkey isn't European by a long shot. It also features Afghanistan in it because historically it has been equally involved with both India and Persia. I have added it because in my view its culture resembles more of a Persian background than an Indian one. These are mine-fields to those who don't wish these countries to be included in this region, but tough luck, its my region settings.

Anyway, it includes: Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Qatar, Bahrain, U.A.E, Jordan, Israel (haha, not a black spot), Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Kuwait. As well as these former countries: Aden, United Arab Republic and Yemen Arab Republic.

There are some countries which do not count because they have issued stamps only for collectors. I call poppy cock on that, because they clearly exist and while finding them used is hard as finding a needle in a haystack, they have been used for postal mail so therefore they do exist. Don't expect to find these in a Scott's stamp catalogue though, they have decided not to list them, which I declare is their own foolishness. These countries are: Ajman, Dubai, Fujeira, Manama, Ras Al Khaima, Sharjah, Umm Al Qiwan, Quaiti State of Shihr and Mukalla and Kathiri State of Seiyun. The total number of countries in this region is about 27. If I am missing any, please kindly comment below and let me know.

The number of stamps in my collection for this region is 1036, with Turkey leading the way at 405. Then comes Afghanistan with 151 and then Saudi Arabia with a measly 64. I'd personally like to get higher numbers of countries in this region, but sadly kiloware isn't geared up to this, which is another topic I will get to in the future.

This area is highly collectible, with some notable stamps which I will showcase below. It is also highly collection because of the political reasons and thus many stamps are geared towards this event. It is sad that Scott's Stamp Catalogue has not accepted the stamps of these "sand dune" countries as they like to call them, I say a pox on them if they can sideline still existing countries even though they are in the UAE.

Next time, I'll focus on Central Asia and we'll go through each region as we continue this journey in blog form. Till then, happy stamp collecting!

This one is from Saudi Arabia:


Iraq:


Iran:


Aden: